Tabloid shock, shocker

The News of the World, which spent most of the past century shouting loudly about people doing outrageously immoral things, has been closed down for doing outrageously immoral things. It's a bit like if Nelson Mandela turned out to be a racist, except that everyone already knew the News of the World was about as trustworthy as a rattlesnake sandwich.

The British were so shocked by the behaviour of the News of the World that five million of us bought a copy of the last edition just to make sure we didn’t miss anything else we could be shocked about.

I find it hard to believe that Poland is genuinely interested in this story. I find it much easier to believe that journalists cannot resist reporting about other journalists getting into trouble. If this story was happening in Warsaw and being reported all over the world, Poland would die of shame. I am not ashamed. In fact, I think it will be an excellent education for the Polish people into the true nature of the UK.

Britain has never been a very civilised country, mostly because we see civilisation and culture as European inventions and, therefore, don't trust them. We, of course, do not see ourselves as European. An infamous, and possibly apocryphal, British newspaper headline once proclaimed: “Fog in Channel; Continent Cut Off.”

We have a long history of riotous behaviour and proletarian uprisings. British mobs threatened to cut off their king's head in the 14th century and did it for real in the 17th century, long before the French thought of it. The true story of England is not to be found in romantic screen adaptations of Jane Austen novels, it's piracy, beer and beating up aristocrats. Today the aristocrats are the politicians and celebrities and the axe is the tabloid press.

The positive side to this is that British politicians and people with power are ruthlessly examined all the time and, consequently, corruption is very low and quickly discovered. The negative side is that when politicians aren't doing anything naughty, the tabloids fill their pages with stories about ordinary people doing naughty things and ruin their lives in the process.

I’m amazed at how respectful the Polish media is to politicians. It’s true that you see serious investigative reports into political issues, but where is the vigorous rudeness that makes politics fun? In the UK there are popular weekly TV programs more-or-less devoted to calling politicians idiots. Would that even be legal here? If you feel like a change, I know where you can buy a newspaper.

Jamie Stokes